Land & Sea
by TalkingFish
Summary: Princess Annabeth thinks her mother despises her best friend, Percy Jackson, because he's a lowly servant and a princess should not lower herself to such company, but little did she know how wrong she was. Percy Jackson has a big secret: Once the sun sets each night, a beautiful sea-green tail replaces his human legs. What will happen when Annabeth sees his merman form? AU. PJ/AC.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Percy Jackson & the Olympians._**

**LAND & SEA**

_Chapter One: ANNABETH  
_

This was the worst and awkwardest dinner Annabeth Chase had to endure through her whole life and she had countless awkward dinners. Having awkward dinners comes with the package of being the Princess of Athens, but this one was so awkward that she wished that a hole would swallow her in right now.

Annabeth's mother, Athena, the Queen of Athens, had invited all her advisers, friends, family, and Percy to dinner tonight. Her mother never liked nor approved of Percy and Annabeth's friendship. Annabeth _thought_ it was because Percy wasn't of a higher status and was a lowly servant who worked in the castle. Regardless of what her mother thought, Annabeth insisted on being Percy's friend. Now they were best friends. They even had a clay necklace to represent their friendship. Needless to say, it just made her mother despise Percy even more.

Earlier in the day, Athena called her daughter to the throne room to discuss something. Namely, the awkward dinner that was happening right now. Apparently, the queen wanted to get to know her daughter's best friend and hosting an awkward dinner was the best way to get to know him. Wonderful idea, isn't it?

Once Annabeth told Percy the news, he had backed out immediately. But you can't exactly ignore something from the queen, even if you hate the queen, so here they were: eating a dinner in awkward silence.

Annabeth felt a poke at the side of her stomach and she looked at Percy. He gestured toward her unused napkin that was sitting next to her glass plate. At first she thought that he wanted to use her napkin, but he mouthed, "_Turn it over_."

Reaching out, she picked up her napkin, pretending that she had to wipe her mouth. In his recognizable, messy handwriting, it wrote: _I thought your mother wanted to "get to know me"? _

Quickly, she brought the napkin to her lips, hiding an amused smile. Looking at Percy from the corner of her eye, she shrugged subtlety. A small smile danced across Percy's lips.

Having a sharp eye, Annabeth's mother wasn't oblivious to what just happened. Her gray eyes narrowed at Percy and she looked at Annabeth with disapproval written all over her face. Since there were people here, she couldn't call them out.

However, Frederick Chase, the King of Athens, was oblivious to it all. Unlike his wife, he didn't show any form of dislike to Percy, the servant. In fact, he rather liked him and admired his sword fighting skills. Having always wanted to talk to the boy about it, he cleared his throat.

All eyes turned to him, startled from the noise that disrupted the silence. Annabeth smiled gratefully at her father. He smiled back kindly.

"So, Percy," he started, not completely sure how to start the conversation from across the table.

"Yes, your Majesty?" Percy replied politely. He looked panicked, even if Annabeth assured him that her father liked him a while ago.

"Your sword fighting skills are quite extraodinary for a young man like you," Frederick smiled.

"Um, thank you, your Majesty," Percy blushed, not sure how to take a compliment from the king. Annabeth smirked at him.

All eyes were on the conversation, darting back and forth from the king to Percy. _Did these people have no excitement in their life? _thought Annabeth. _Mother really ought to get new advisers._

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" the King asked curiously. His wife shot him a look, but he ignored it. This might be his only chance to ask and he wasn't going to let the opportunity slip away from him.

"I'm not sure, your Majesty," Percy said. "I guess I taught myself."

"Yourself?" he asked surprised. _That boy has some skill. Why was he still a servant?_ he thought.

Percy nodded, looking down at his glass plate. He wasn't used to eating with everything that was made with glass. He was afraid that once he touched it, everything would break. Nobody in this room except for Annabeth and Frederick Chase had ever seen Percy fight with a sword, so nobody was amazed except for the king.

"That's impressive! Are you considering to be a soldier when you reach of age?" Frederick asked hopefully. With the boy in the army, there will be a greater chance of them winning the Spartans if they ever came to war.

For some reason, Annabeth's face fell. He shot her a look and a smile appeared on her face again.

"I–I'm not sure, your Highness," Percy finally answered.

The King's face fell and Percy immediately felt guilty, but the guilt was forgotten once a cold voice spoke up.

The Queen.

Annabeth's eyes widened and she shrank down in her chair. Percy shot her a _Help me! _look. She did nothing.

"Thanks for the help," he muttered to her.

She gave him an apologetic smile and quickly gestured for him to look at her mother. Her mother hated it when people didn't look at her when she talked. Annabeth overheard her mother complaining about it once.

"Are you planning to stay a servant _here_ for the rest of your life?" Athena asked, raising a slender eyebrow at him.

Annabeth watched his Adam's apple bob nervously. She wanted to tell him to calm down even if she was nervous and her mother wasn't even speaking to her! Judging from past experience, it never turned out pretty whenever her mother wanted to speak with Percy. It usually ended up being a shouting match. One thing that confused Annabeth was that if anybody shouted at her mother, they would be exiled, but Percy was still here (Not that she wanted Percy to be exiled!).

"Maybe not," Percy said.

"No?" Athena questioned. "Then what are you planning to be, _Perseus_?" Her eyes flickered out toward the sea that was seen through the window. Percy's sea-green eyes narrowed at her as if challenging her.

Annabeth's mother always called Percy his full name. It amused Annabeth and infuriated Percy to no end.

Percy laughed nervously, but it sounded like he was coughing fakely. "It's...ah, a bit too young to think about it, isn't it?"

A few people cracked a smile, but Athena didn't find it very funny. She gave him a calculating stare and Percy would've peed his pants if he was standing up.

"Nonsense. It's never too young to be thinking about your career," Athena said. "My daughter here, already has many plans once she's queen."

"Mother, please," Annabeth said, trying to stop her mother.

A cold breeze flitted in through the opened windows. Percy's eyes darted toward the sunset and he started tapping his feet impatiently.

"In a hurry to go somewhere, _Perseus_?" The corner of the queen's mouth lifted slightly. Her daughter didn't find this amusing. She still couldn't figure out what kind of game her mother was playing. There could be a chance that there was no game, but that was a very slim chance.

Trying not to shoot the queen a glare, Percy took a deep breath and exhaled, "No, not at all, your Majesty."

But his eyes looked at the shining sunset again. It was slowly disappearing down the sea. In less than 10 minutes, it would be completely down.

Suddenly, the sound of someone getting up was heard. He looked up and saw Athena smoothing her gown down. "It's been a great dinner and it's been fabulous talking to all of you. Thank you all for coming for this extravagant dinner. I hope it was to your liking," Athena smiled politely.

_Fabulous talking to all of you? _Annabeth thought, rolling her eyes. But feeling suspicious, Annabeth spoke up, "But we haven't had dessert yet, Mother."

"The chef had some problems, dear," Athena responded, her smile stiff.

Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, but she didn't question her mother.

One of the queen's many advisers stood up and he bowed to the royal family. "Thank you for the kind invitation of inviting me. This was a wonderful meal," he said. Then he left and just like that, everybody started offering their compliments about the meal and said their good-byes.

_Finally_, Annabeth thought.

She turned around to speak with her best friend, but as she looked around, Percy was no where to be seen. Did he leave without even saying good-bye? Was this dinner that awful for him?

"Mother, did you see where Percy went?" Annabeth asked.

"No, dear. Did he leave just like that?" Athena raised an eyebrow. "How rude!"

Luckily, Annabeth's father piped in too, "I think I saw the boy leave that way." He pointed to a back door of the dining room. Weird. Why did he go all the way over there to leave?

"That way?" Annabeth repeated. "Are you sure?"

Her mother had a deep frown on her face and she had a worried look on her face. Was her mother worried about Percy? That's weird. "Yes, Frederick, are you sure? That's an odd way to exit."

"I'm sure. Black hair and green eyes?" Frederick nodded.

"Sea-green," Annabeth automatically corrected, staring at the back door.

"Excuse me?" the King's eyebrows rose, with a small grin playing on his lips.

"His eyes," she blushed as she realized what she said. "They're _sea_-green."

Her parents exchanged a glance. Athena shook her head while Frederick looked amused.

"I'm going to find Percy," Annabeth said, her cheeks as red as a tomato now. "I'll be back soon."

"It's quite late, darling," Athena said, trying to stop her from going after Percy.

"The sun is still up, Mother." Annabeth pointed at the sun. "I won't take long."

Taking a chance and knowing that her mother will scold her when she came back, she broke to a run toward the back door.

"Annabeth!" her mother yelled sternly.

"Let her go, Athena," Annabeth heard her father say. She sent a silent _thank you _to him. The only person her mother never yelled at was her father. At least, Annabeth never heard her and Annabeth was quiet observant. Sometimes she thought that she would be better off as an architecture or a spy than a princess. Preferably an architecture.

There were so much flaws in this old castle. She just _felt _that she could make this the best castle and it'll stand forever through earthquakes or any natural disasters.

As she walked out the back door, she saw the beach not too far away. Immediately, she knew that Percy was there. Percy was in love with water and sometimes, Annabeth thought that Percy was half-fish. One time, Annabeth bought Percy a pet fish and when he thought she wasn't looking, he set the fish go in the sea. He was kinda considered a vegetarian, but not really. He eats almost anything, but seafood. It was like the sea creatures were his family and eating seafood would be considered cannibalism to Percy.

Finally reaching the beach, she hugged her chest, trying to keep warm. _I should've brought a cloak! _she scolded herself. It was freezing and her body felt stiff.

"Percy?" she called.

Not wanting to get her silky rose-colored gown dirty, she lifted it up. A black silhouette sat on an uneven rock near the water. Seaweed surrounded the rock and a memory flashed in Annabeth's head. When they were younger, Annabeth always called Percy a nickname. It was a stupid nickname: Seaweed Brain, but hey, they were young! Percy gave Annabeth a nickname too: Wise Girl.

When they grew older, their nicknames disappeared. But Annabeth didn't really mind even if she kind of missed the adorable, embarrassing nicknames. She would _never _admit that out loud though.

"Percy," she greeted, hoping he wasn't upset. Dinner went better than she thought, even if it was extremely, awkwardly quiet.

The beach got darker and darker and the wind blew harder, making her teeth chatter. The sun would be down in a few seconds.

She heard a sharp gasp and watched as Percy slowly slid off the rock, his toes now in the water. Annabeth imagined the water to be as cold as absolute zero. "Go back to the castle, Annabeth!" he shouted over the wind.

Well, that wasn't the response she expected.

"You're coming too! You're going to catch a cold," Annabeth reprimanded. "And what are you doing in the water? It's freezing!"

"No! I–I can't," his voice broke slightly. "I'll be back in the morning," he promised. "Just _go_, Annabeth."

"Look, what's going on? Dinner wasn't even that bad!" she yelled, the wind muffling her voice.

"It wasn't," Percy agreed, a hint of surprise was detected in his voice. The sea water filled his nostrils and he took another step into the sea.

_10 seconds until the sun sets._

"Then what are you doing?! With this wind, no matter how good a swimmer you are, you can drown!" Annabeth shouted.

_5 more seconds. _

Another step. What was he doing? Annabeth lifted her gown and started walking to Percy. She noticed that he had a frantic expression on his face and he took faster and bigger steps into the sea.

_2 more seconds._

"Don't come in!" He made a stop motion with his hands.

"Percy...?" Annabeth asked uncertainly.

"Stop! Don't look and turn around! Go back! _Now_!" he screamed. His face was pale and the wind made his hair messier than ever. It scared Annabeth and she rarely got scared.

_1 second._

He ventured in deeper into the water. Annabeth followed, placing one foot into the cold water. She almost jumped out of the murky water, but she couldn't abandon Percy. Plus, she had to know what was going on with Percy. One thing that Annabeth Chase hated was not knowing something.

The sun fell and the wind blew harder.

She saw Percy's body waver and he fell into the water. His arms shot upwards and she screamed.

Not caring about her dress or the coldness, she ran straight toward Percy. Annabeth reached her arm out. "Hold on!" she yelled.

Percy's eyes widened and for some reason, he backed up deeper into the water. Now, only his head was showing, but his hair blended in with the water, so it was hard to see him. "No, no!" He shook his head, panic and fear shown in his sea-green eyes. "No! I–I don't need it! Go away! Go back!"

"_What are you talking about? _You're going to drown!" Annabeth shouted, her chest heaving up and down from worry. "Just hold my hand and I'll help!"

"No, you don't understand!"

"What do you mean? You can't _swim _in this weather, you idiot!"

As if on cue, the sky rumbled and rain started pouring down on the two of them. Annabeth shuddered and sneezed, but Percy seemed perfectly fine and not cold at all. It was like he didn't feel the coldness, but how could he not?

Percy looked up and held her frantic gaze. He shook his head sadly and that was when Annabeth took a big leap. Usually, Annabeth thought and analyzed about everything before she acted, but this time, she acted without a second thought.

Carefully, without tumbling into the deep waters, she grabbed onto one of Percy's arms and dragged him toward the shore. He resisted and tried to get away, but she didn't know why. Percy wasn't the type of guy to end his life and if he wasn't, he has to know that no sane person could swim in this pouring weather. Nobody can be that stupid.

"Get away!" he yelled, trying to pry her hand away from his arm.

Being the good best friend she was, she ignored him. After all, she was saving his life here, wasn't she? She was. Right?

After much struggle (The sword-fighting lessons Percy gave her sometimes helped), Annabeth finally threw Percy on the shore. Her eyes were closed and she tasted salty water on her tongue. Her entire body was obviously wet and pieces of seaweed clung onto her hair somehow. She wondered what would her mother's reaction to be like if she saw Annabeth like this.

She heard heavy breathing coming from beside her and then a huge coughing fit. A loud gasp followed after that.

Her eyes opened and...she closed them again. _The rain is making me see things, _she told herself. But when she opened her eyes again, her jaw fell to the ground. Unable to form a complete sentence, she stammered and pointed, but she didn't move away.

"You–you–_tail_!" she choked out, her gray eyes widened and were filled with surprise.

Her gaze fell on his flickering sea-green tail. The only thought she could process right now was that: _her best friend was a fish._

* * *

**A/N: I was having a bit of a hard time writing _I Am Percy Jackson _when this cool-ish idea popped out and I couldn't let it slip away from me, so here it is! Well, some of this was inspired by a GIF, too, haha.**

**For those who are wondering when the next chapter for _I Am Percy Jackson _is coming out, it should be around next month. And if this sounds promising, would you guys want the next chapter for this story or chapter six for _I Am Percy Jackson_ first?**

**Anyway, tell me your thoughts! Review, please! :D (This story will be written like _The Heroes of Olympus _for the POV's.)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**LAND & SEA**

_Chapter Two: ANNABETH II_

* * *

He tried to scramble away from her, but it was hard since he had a fish tail. His sea-green eyes were wide with panic and his mouth dropped open. He seemed to be speaking, but Annabeth was deaf to it all. The only sounds she heard were the sounds of the roaring waves. She wanted to believe that that wasn't her best friend, but the eyes ruined it. Nobody had those sea-green that represented the.._sea_.

Suddenly, her body felt colder and goosebumps appeared on her pale arms.

"_Percy_?" Annabeth whispered.

She watched, wide-eyed, as he bowed his head slightly and nodded.

"No, no," she mumbled, feeling a bit numb; shaking her head. "B–but you have a tail!"

He lifted his tail up slightly and stared at her as if saying, _Yes, I do have a tail_.

Annabeth put her hands to her head. "I can't believe. I cannot believe it," she muttered over and over again. "My best friend is a _mermaid_!"

An offended look crossed his face. "I am _not _a mermaid! I am a mer_man_," he corrected. "Big difference."

"But you're still a merperson!"

"Only half."

"How can you be half?"

"It–It's complicated," he said, trying to shift into a more comfortable position.

"Is this like _The Little Mermaid_?" Annabeth wondered. "You have something evil–Ursula–down there?"

Percy shrugged. "There's evil everywhere. I think there's more on land, though."

She bit her lip. A million thoughts were racing through her mind at the same time. She stared at a bracelet that somebody left on the beach. It was made of fake gold and faintly reminded her of the sun.

Sun. Sun_set_.

That was when she connected the dots.

Percy had always seemed anxious when it was around sunset. There was also the fact that Annabeth never saw him after sunset. Only in the mornings and the afternoons. Also, his room always looked neat and unslept in. More than often, she thought that that was unusual for a teenage boy, but she never gave it too much thought.

Also, according to the books she read from her enormous library in the castle, it was said that it was impossible for somebody like Percy to be born. Her mother had always tried to hide those books from her, but Annabeth found them anyway. Everybody in the castle knew that you could never hide a book from Annabeth for long. But thinking about it, there was only one reasonable answer for that and how Percy was...how he is. A half merman. "You're _cursed_," she breathed.

Percy's mouth twitched. "I like to think of myself as special. Not cursed."

Her gaze drifted toward his shimmering tail. Without realizing it, her hand reached out. "Can I touch it?" she whispered, amazement and curiosity shown in her eyes.

"Touch wha–oh...um," he hesitated. "Sure? But it's a bit hard for me to move."

Annabeth crawled over to his tail since she didn't quite trust her legs that much right now. Her fingers brushed on his tail and her hand immediately flew back. It was scaly and felt as cold as ice. Tentatively, her hand came back and she lightly touched his fin. Her eyes widened in surprise. Unlike the part above the fin, it was soft and smooth.

Completely captured by the beauty of his tail, her hands crawled upper and upper. His eyes were on her, watching her every move. She placed both of her palms on where his thigh should be if he was a human when he twitched and cleared his throat.

She brought her head back up and realized that she was close to his...well, _thing_. Immediately, she brought her hands back to her side, but just as quickly, she missed how his tail felt. It was cold and scaly, but for some odd reason, she liked it. Maybe it was because she never seen or touched anything like it because seeing merpeople tails weren't exactly things you saw on a daily basis. She enjoyed finding out new things.

A dark blush quickly filled her cold cheeks. A million apologies began running through her mind, but she couldn't seem to piece them together into one complete sentence.

"I–I–um...sorry!" she stammered. "I didn't–didn't–"

"It's okay," Percy interrupted shyly. "You didn't know."

Annabeth nodded. Her wet dress clung to her skin and the strong wind only made it worse. She got up on her legs and tried to brush the wet sand off her dress. She hoped that nobody in the castle would see her like this. They would tell her mother and there was no doubt that her mother would be furious.

"You should go. I think your mother's sending out a search party," Percy said.

Annabeth snorted. "Mother really needs to stop worrying."

He snorted. "Yeah, I know. But I have to go too. My father would be worried."

"You have a father?" Annabeth asked in surprise. "Isn't he dead?"

"Way to be blunt," Percy chuckled. "And yeah, I do. He's just not exactly human."

"Annabeth, dear, where are you?" called a voice.

Both of them recognized that voice, especially Annabeth. She could probably recognize it during a deadly war with cannons flying everywhere.

Percy quickly hid behind a small boulder. It hid him perfectly in the dark. "Your mother! You really should go," Percy hissed. Then he said thoughtfully, "And she didn't send a search party. She sent herself."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at his comment.

"Annabeth!" Queen Athena cried. She clutched her silver cloak tighter around her body, as a huge gust of wind nearly blew her away.

"Go!" Percy gestured toward the direction of the queen.

"But I have so much more questions! I need more answers! What's it like under the water? Is there a castle? What is it made of? How was it ma–?"

"I'll be back tomorrow and I'll answer everything," Percy promised, trying to get Annabeth to be quiet.

Hunger for answers were clear in her eyes. But she knew that her mother would find her soon and by that, Athena would find Percy. And that would _not_ be pretty.

"Okay, fine; bye. You better tell me what and how things underwater are made of," she huffed.

"Finally!" Percy mumbled. "Thought she'd never leave. I mean, seriously, it's not fun being turned into _seaweed_!"

Luckily, the loud wind prevented Annabeth from hearing what Percy mumbled. If she heard that he got turned into seaweed, he'd never live it down. Actually, he might have to move to another kingdom if she found out.

With one more glance at the water and Percy's fin that was sticking out, she ran to her mother. If she stayed longer, she might stay there for the entire night since all these questions were popping into her mind. Plus, she doubt that merman Percy would like to stay on land for more than 4 hours.

"Mother! I'm here!" she shouted, finally reaching Athena.

"Oh, Anna–" her mother gasped in horror. "Annabeth! What have you been doing?!"

"Nothing, Mother." Her eyes flitted to the sea and back. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought that she saw a sea-green tail jump into the waters.

"If you did 'nothing,' you wouldn't look like this!" her mother scolded with a frown.

"I ran into the water and fell into the sand," Annabeth said absentmindedly. She twirled a wet, blonde curl with her index finger.

"You _what_?" Athena cried. "A princess does not–"

"–do those things," Annabeth finished. "I know, Mother. I'm sorry."

Her mother shook her head and ran her fingers through her neatly combed hair. Even with the weather, she still looked every bit like a perfect queen. It reminded Annabeth of those Disney movies, where more than half of the characters have unrealistic, beautiful, perfect hair.

"Let's just get back to the castle. Your maids are looking for you," her mother said.

Slowly, they trudged back to the castle. Many of the lights from the castle were flickering off. Her mother was ranting and listing things that Annabeth shouldn't be doing as a princess the whole time. Normally, she would try to make her mother be quiet, but she had other things on her mind. Like a certain half human, half merman and how exactly are things built underwater.

Or do they live in shells?

Nah, that thought was too weird. Just imagine Percy squeezing into a shell made her smile, but it went unnoticed by her mother.

As her mother called the guards to open the gates, Annabeth wondered why didn't her mother ask where Percy was? If her memory served correct, Annabeth did tell her mother that she was looking for Percy.

There was also the fact that she didn't even mention Percy at all. Usually when Annabeth did something that she didn't approve of, she would blame Percy and how Annabeth should just start distancing herself from him because apparently, the definition of Percy means bad and trouble.

Annabeth looked at her mother curiously, but she didn't comment on it.

Once they got inside, her mother said, "Go to your room and make yourself presentable."

"But nobody's even going to see me."

"A princess always looks her best. Especially an Athenian princess."

She sighed and bowed her head. "Yes, Mother. Good-night."

When she took her leave, she thought she heard her mother mutter, "Percy...boy...horrible...make a plan...Annabeth..."

It all sounded like nonsense to her, so she thought she was hearing things. Besides, a queen wouldn't mutter to herself. It's unprofessional and her mother was anything, but unprofessional.

* * *

The next morning in the dining hall, Percy wasn't there. For some reason, a little stuffed animal occupied his seat instead of him.

She was eating alone this morning. Her parents had to meet the Spartans today because they requested their presence. If Annabeth were them, she wouldn't bother to go at all. Looking at the history between the Spartans and Athenians, she doubt that they would suddenly make peace one day.

Annabeth rested her head against her palm and played around with her cold scrambled eggs. It was too salty for her taste and she would throw it out, but that would be a waste. She always wanted to donate things to the poor in the kingdom, but her mother would never approve.

All her life, Annabeth tried her best to please her mother, but now, 16 years later, that goal seems impossible. She knew she wasn't a perfect princess, but in all honesty, she thought that she was okay.

She heard loud footsteps running behind her and she turned her head slightly.

"Hey! No running in the castle, boy!" She heard a guard shout.

The boy who was running ignored him and focused his attention on a little, blonde princess. "Annabeth!"

Annabeth placed her fork down and crossed her arms as Percy sat in his chair. She straighted her back and held her head up high.

"You–"

"Are those _blue _cookies?" An excited look replaced Percy's glum face and he quickly grabbed two cookies in each hand. As he leaned back into his chair, he finally noticed the look on his best friend's face. He gulped, but still had the nerve to take one huge bite of a cookie.

"You're late," Annabeth said flatly, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I know, I know, but–"

"I even specially requested the chef to make blue cookies! Just for you!"

"Oh. Uh, thanks."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and leaned forward. She rested her elbows on the glass table. "So," she started excitedly, "are there buildings, houses, a castle in the–um...down there?"

A few guards who were standing by the door that lead to the dining hall gave her strange looks, but she didn't care. She was finally getting some answers and nothing was going to stop here. Plus, the architecture underwater must be amazing! It has to be really strong in order for it to survive in the sea.

"Of course," Percy said. Crumbs were beginning to decorate the corners of his mouth.

Her eyes widened. "What are they made of? How are they made?"

He blinked at her. "With bricks, of course. Just like up here."

"Bricks? As in normal, ordinary _bricks_?" she asked incredulously. Surely the things underwater would crumble and fall.

"Yeah. Like this castle," he shrugged, as if he didn't find it fascinating. Well, he probably didn't, but he could at least show a bit more excitement.

Annabeth bit her lip. "You look sad. Did–did something happen? Do they know that I know and they're...punishing you?" she asked.

"Oh," he shook his head, making his hair even more messy. "No! No, of course not. As if I could get punished," he mumbled.

"Then what happened? You look sad," she noted.

"Nothing...nothing happened. Want me to tell you more about the amazing, wonderful, great bricks the castle is made of?" he asked weakly, trying to change the topic.

"No," Annabeth said firmly. "I'm your best friend and I _always _know when something's wrong. Also, there's also the fact that I'm never wrong."

"But there's nothing wrong," he insisted. "Besides, aren't you full of questions about the fantastic architecture?"

She raised her eyebrows. "It's not working. And you also look like those knights when they're about to leave the kingdom to fight."

Percy cleared his throat and pushed his chair back. He squeezed the stuffed animal behind him. "Sorry, stuffed animal," he apologized. "Look, I gotta go. I promised uh, my friend that I would teach him sword fighting today. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Wait–what!" she cried, standing up. "You can't just leave! You can't just take my blue cookies and leave! And I have still have so much to say!"

But Percy was already out the door and rushing down the corridors. The guards exchanged bewildered looks, but since the princess wasn't telling them to stop him, they decided to do nothing.

"_Percy_!" she shouted, annoyed and frustrated.

Her eyes darted out the window and saw a dot of black sprinting _past_ the place where people trained for sword fighting and _out _of the castle walls.

She sighed and hugged her body. Suddenly, she felt like she didn't know her best friend as much as she thought she did.

* * *

**I am so, so sorry for such a **_**late**_** update. I've been busy with multiple tests, projects, and getting all my stuff ready for graduation. Wow, it's going to be so scary entering high school in a few months, haha. **

**But anyway, I'll try my best to start updating faster when summer starts since I would have quite a lot of free time! :D **

**Also, a big thank you for all that reviewed, favorited, or followed! I wouldn't mind if you reviewed here too. :P **


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